A long-standing complaint from the iPhone community at large has been the lack of copy and paste functionality.  This isn’t something I run into needing too often, but I agree that it’s a super basic feature that should have been there from the start.

There have been a few attempts at a proof of concept so far; the popular Notes replacement app MagicPad features copying and pasting between notes, but not between MagicPad and any other app on the iPhone.  Back in August, an open-source solution called OpenClip was introduced that allowed users to copy and paste between applications using a common folder that the apps could read from and write to.  However, firmware upgrade 2.1 broke OpenClip and I haven’t heard much about it since then.

Enter pastebud – an ingenious workaround that lets you copy and paste between Mail and Safari (really, the apps that I have wanted to copy and paste between) using a couple of handy bookmarks in Safari and a secret pastebud address that only you have access to.  Clipboards are deleted after five minutes to avoid any potential security issues, and the developers say they’re looking to make it even more secure in the future.  It does not require your iPhone to be jailbroken nor does it require anything to be downloaded from the App Store.  It is free to use, but users can upgrade their clipboard for $5 to remove the pastebud ad clip at the end of their copied text.

All you have to do is fire up Safari on your iPhone or iPod Touch, or a web browser on a computer that syncs with your iTunes.  Then you follow the directions on pastebud’s website to bookmark a COPY and a PASTE link.  You have to edit a bit of the link, since pastebud had to be creative with it.  You cannot bookmark a javascript in Mobile Safari, so they had to put a bit of extra text on the front of the link that you just edit out after setting the bookmark.  Then, you just save your secret pastebud address as a contact on your iPhone or iPod Touch, and you’re ready to go!  I’ve tried it out on my iPhone and it’s pretty slick.

Pastebud reminds me a lot of the popular online clipboard service cl1p.net, which I have used quite frequently.  I’ll do a more in-depth review once I’ve had a chance to play with pastebud some more.

To learn more about pastebud, watch the demo I’ve embedded below or visit http://www.pastebud.com.